1712 Census of Westchester County Documents Slave Ownership in Pelham

As I stated in my posting published to the Historic Pelham Blog on April 3, 2006, for several years I have tried to piece together some of the tragic history regarding slavery in the early years of Pelham's history. For those also working to piece together this history, I provide below a brief list of a few of the available resources on the topic:

Today's Historic Pelham Blog Posting provides the text of the Census of Westchester County taken in 1712. I have taken the material from a publication issued in 1849 entitled "Papers Relating to Westchester County", Vol. XIII, p. 949 (Ward Parsons). Beneath the image of the chart reflecting that census taken from that publication, I have transcribed excertps of the chart that relate to Pelham.

As the above makes clear, of the total recorded population of 65 indicated as residing in Pelham in 1712, 13 -- 20% of the entire population -- were slaves. Ten of those slaves were male and 3 were female.

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About Me

Blake A. Bell is Town Historian and a member of the Town Council of Pelham, NY in Westchester County. He is a member of the Boards of Trustees of the Westchester County Historical Society (past member of the Executive Committee), and the Society of the National Shrine of the Bill of Rights at Saint Paul's Church National Historic Site (Chair). He served as the editor and publisher of the award-winning HistoricPelham.com Web site. He is the author of two books regarding the history of Pelham: (1) "Thomas Pell and the Legend of the Pell Treaty Oak" (iUniverse 2004); and (2) Town of Pelham's 350th Anniversary Celebration: Historian Blake Bell's Articles Published in The Pelham Weekly Plus Photos of Key Events (Pelham Weekly 2006). In addition, he is the author of more than 80 published articles on Pelham history and is a frequent speaker on matters relating to the history of Pelham and surrounding areas. Mr. Bell is Senior Knowledge Management Counsel with 850-lawyer Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP in New York City.